Early Conciliation exemptions

There are five exemptions to early conciliation. They are set out at Regulation 3(1) of SI 254/2014. The exemptions are expressed on the claim form in the following way:

(a) another person I'm making the claim with has an Acas early conciliation certificate number.

(b) Acas doesn't have a duty to conciliate on some or all of my claim.

(c) my employer has already asked Acas to get involved in the dispute.

(d) I've been unfairly dismissed and I intend to apply for interim relief.

(e) my claim is against the Security Service, Secret Intelligence Service or GCHQ.

You can still choose to make an Early Conciliation notification even where an exemption might apply.

It will be a requirement for a claimant to provide the tribunal with a number or an exemption category before the claim can be considered presented. After presentation, the tribunal will carry out a verification of any certificate number provide, and an Employment Judge can consider potential jurisdictional issues beyond that point.